0:08 – Presidential elections in France had a first round of voting this past weekend, which brings the country to a runoff vote in less than two weeks between incumbant centrist Emmanuel Macron and right wing populist Marine Le Pen, who is anti-immigrant and anti-European Union. Runoff results are expected to split France evenly. We speak with Tony Cross (@tonycrossjourno), an independent journalist and lecturer in Paris, a veteran of Radio France Internationale and Pacifica’s late Free Speech Radio News. His writing is available at TheRavingReporter.com. We are also joined by Zahir Malaoui, an educator who lives outside Paris and organized support there for Jean-Luc Melenchon, the left candidate that finished a close third in the first round of voting, who could play kingmaker in the final runoff.
0:34 – We explore spring gardening season in the Bay Area with Daniel Miller, Executive Director of Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project, which operates a nonprofit nursery in South Berkeley.
1:08 – Cities around the country have spent billions of unrestricted federal covid emergency funds on policing. We speak with two journalists who’ve been covering the issue – Sam Levin (@SamTLevin), Los Angeles-based correspondent for The Guardian, focused his work on California expenditures, while Brian Dolinar (@bdolinar72), an independent journalist who works on issues of mass incarceration and immigration, took on a national perspective.
1:33 – Police overtime budgets are often opaque spending processes. Jenny Wong (@jennytheauditor), the elected Auditor for the City of Berkeley, joins us to discuss the report she’ll be presenting this evening to the Berkeley City Council about 2021’s Berkeley police overtime spending.
1:47 – San Francisco’s political redistricting process has become increasingly messy. We’re joined by Tim Redmond (@timredmondsf), founder and editor of 48hills.org, to discuss how progressive politics are on the line in the redistricting process.